Have you booked for the Campbeltown Malts Festival yet? From the 21st to the 24th of May Campbeltown celebrates all things whisky (and gin) with a full programme of distillery open days, whisky dinners, tastings, cinema screenings and much, much more. I'm delighted to be joining the fun this year with a couple of walking tours to give you the chance to enjoy a bit of fresh air and exercise along with your drams!

Booking Campbeltown Malts Festival Walking Tours

If you'd like to join either of my walking tours just send me a wee email for booking/payment info. If you like the sound of the tours but can't make the times or dates shown then do drop me an email and I'll see what I can do!

Programme of Distillery Open Days

For details of all the Distillery Open Days and what events they have planned, you should check their websites. The fun kicks off with Beinn an Tuirc (Kintyre Gin) Open Day on Tues 21st (yes, I know it's not a malt, but we're an inclusive bunch down here), followed by Glen Scotia on Wed 22nd, Springbank on Thurs 23rd and Kilkerran and Cadenheads on Fri 24th. If you haven't been before, you really should come - it's a great week!

For transport and accommodation options, have a look at Explore Campbeltown to help you plan your visit here. Hope to see you soon!

Following on from yesterday’s look at the history of whisky distilling in Australia, today I’m going to focus very much on the present (and future) and have a chat with three people from different spheres of the whisky industry; Niko Devlin, President of the Australian Whisky Appreciation Society (and the man responsible for this blog piece!), Frank McHardy, Chief Whiskey Advisor at the Whipper Snapper Distillery in Perth, Western Australia and Mark Coburn, who is currently in the process of building the Coburns Distillery in New South Wales.

First though, let’s take a wee look at what is happening with whisky today. Fortunately things look a lot rosier than where we left it yesterday! The birth (rebirth?) of the modern Australian whisky industry is pretty much credited to one man - Bill Lark. In 1992 Lark fired up his small still at the Lark Distillery in Hobart, Tasmania, making him the first person to hold a distilling license on the island for 153 years. No mean feat, since in order to do so, he first successfully lobbied the Minister of Agriculture to change the 1901 Licensing Act requirement that stills had to be a minimum of 2700 litres. This change in law presumably paved the way for the plethora of small craft distilleries currently springing up all over Australia.

While the number of distilleries has increased dramatically since Lark was established, the volumes produced nationwide remain very small. It would certainly seem that the current crop of Aussie distillers are focussing very much on quality over quantity. According to Deloitte, Australia currently produces around 360,000 litres per annum - that’s less than is currently produced in Campbeltown’s 3 distilleries (Springbank, Glengyle and Glen Scotia) and Campbeltown ain’t exactly a powerhouse in terms of Scotch whisky production volumes!

As far as I am aware there is now at least one distillery in every territory and state in Australia, except the Northern Territory (which caused me no end of problems when I was doing my Aussie whisky map as the NT covers a very large area!). The small island (well, small in Australian terms anyway - it’s nearly as big as Scotland!) of Tasmania, with its 11 distilleries and just shy of 2/3 of the total national production, could certainly be considered not just the cradle of this blossoming whisky nation, but also its Whisky Capital. Over here I’ve heard people refer to Tasmania as the Islay of Australia.

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Just for fun I decided to do a wee comparison between these two illustrious whisky islands. You can see the results for yourselves in the table below but basically it boils down to; Tasmania is over 100 times bigger and more populous than Islay but Islay produces 100 times more whisky. To put it another way, if Tasmania had the same concentration of distilleries as Islay, it would have 882 distilleries! Even at the rate the Australian whisky industry is growing, that’ll take some doing!

While Australian whisky is not that widely available in the UK as yet (ie you’re not going to find it on special offer in your local Tesco) you can find a reasonable selection (Sullivans Cove, Lark, Limeburners, Starward and others I’m sure) in specialist retailers. One thing’s for sure - if the Aussies are anywhere near as successful at marketing their New World Whiskies as they were their New World Wines, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of them in years to come!

Anyway, enough chat from me, let’s find out what they have to say for themselves. First up is the man responsible for this whole map and blog post idea, Niko Devlin.

Why do you think so many new Australian whisky distilleries have started up in recent years?

​Well our modern industry only really started in 1992 with Bill Lark leading the way for all of us. Over the past decade Australians have begun to realize we actually have a whisky industry & people have decided to get involved at all levels. There's a boom going on here now with it seeming like there's a new distillery in the works every few months.It's very exciting to see, now if we can just get our government to help the whisky industry in the same way it's helped the wine industry, the sky will be the limit for what we can achieve.You mentioned that you are doing a bit of independent bottling - can you tell me a bit more about that? Are there many indie bottlers in Australia?

My AWAS partner Brad O'Riley & I have put together a small batch of casks for our Australian Whisky Appreciation Society members, 3x 30L ex-port casks made with 60+yr old port staves crafted by Master Cooper Andrew Young at Seppeltsfield Winery, we also have a peated 20L mystery cask.

All of the spirit for our 1st batch comes from Archie Rose Distillery, the 1st distillery in Sydney since the 1800s, the team there does outstanding work & we feel very lucky to work closely with them on our 1st bottlings. We're working on putting together a series of larger batches with a view to build it up into a full time independent bottler business, sourcing casks & spirit county wide. We've also got a few little experiments going on, our 1st one being a Mead cask aged Rye, which I'm pretty sure is a world 1st. That was given out to the attendees at our AWAS 1st Birthday tasting.There's only a handful of independent bottlers in Australia, the most renowned being Heartwood Malt Whisky, the owner Tim Duckett produces some of the best whisky on the planet.

Do you think Australian whiskies have any typical national or regional characteristics?.Being such a young industry we're only in the infancy of defining our regional characteristics, with Tasmanian whisky blazing the trail for the rest of the country, it definitely has its own style, clean, full bodied & bold flavors with an oily spirit that has a fantastic mouth feel, the rest of Australian whisky follows in that style. There's loads of experimentation going on using a lot of single casks & small batch runs, taking advantage of our world renowned wine industry's barrel stocks.

Do you have any recommendations for people trying Aussie whisky for the first time?(I know it's always difficult to single out favourites but even if it's just ones that you are particularly excited about or that are easier to find abroad than others!)I'd say the easiest to find on the international market is probably going to be Starward, it's a great representation of Australian whisky & they have a level of production that actually sees stock make it off shore. If you can find them, Lark, Sullivans Cove, Overeem & Heartwood are some of the best whiskies Australia has to offer.

How do you see the future for Australian whisky, both at home and abroad?.Locally the industry is going from strength to strength with a large portion of releases selling out within hours. The infrastructure is slowly starting to build up to the point where hopefully over the next decade we can produce enough Australian whisky to take up shelf space abroad. We still have a long way to go to catch up with other countries volume wise, but in quality we punch well above our weight.

The seed was planted in me 14 years ago when I visited a small distillery in Queensland. The distiller had been an early business partner of Bill Lark, the grandfather of the Australian distilling industry. The distiller had moved from Hobart to the hinterland behind Queensland’s Gold Coast and was making flavoured liquors. I was fascinated by the process. Over the last ten years I have been working towards making the leap to setting up my own distillery. Along the way I came up with the idea that I wanted to be drinking my own 20yo single malt by the time I was 70. This year I turned 49, so it was now or never. It has taken me a while to work out where my love of distilling comes from. Note that it’s the distilling and not the whisky that came first. To put it into context let me explain; I believe that one of the sincerest ways to show love to another person is by cooking for them, I refer to it as 'putting love on the plate'. Whether it is a 36 hour slow cooked leg of pork or a breakfast omelette, I love cooking for family and friends. I am always looking for new techniques that will create a more enjoyable eating experience, regardless of the extra time or effort the process will take. Distilling comes into context when you learn that my other great passion is steam engines. I am a avid model steam locomotive enthusiast who loves to build and run working model steam engines. The thought occurred to me a few years ago that whisky distillation is the intersection of food and steam.

Why did your choose the Southern Highlands of NSW as the location?

First off, I live here! The area has rolling countryside with a proper four seasons which you don’t get in most of Australia. The distillery site itself covers 15 acres (6.2ha), of which 3 acres (1.5ha) is peat bog. It’s the only Australian distillery with their own onsite peat for smoking the barley. There are two types of amazing water onsite: Peat filtered lake water and four pure water springs. It’s a warm north facing site for those cold winter days, 725 meters above sea level with average summer temperatures of 14-24C, average winter temperatures 5-13C (100mm of snow last winter) and average rainfall of 700mm.

As a visitors centre is an important part of the business plan, we needed to be easily accessible to nearby towns and major cities. The site we have selected is 12 minutes from Bowral, Mittagong & Moss Vale (25,000 population), 1h 45m drive from Sydney, New South Wales, 1h 45m drive from Canberra, Australian Capital.

Where are you in the process?

The distillery site is being purchased now. Currently we are working on a round of capital raising through barrel sales. We filled an early round of barrel sales and now we have a limited number of barrels in our second offering via our 'Barrel Investment program’ ​Very soon we will be producing product at another site while we wait for planning approvals for our new distillery to be granted. We will have licensing and planning approvals for on-site production within 12 months. The plan is that we can be releasing our first small cask whiskies by 2020-21.

Do you have a particular style of whisky in mind and how will you achieve that?We are planning to start by putting down five expressions that will represent the four seasons of the New South Wales Southern Highlands. Coburns Distillery will distill a triple distilled spirit. Our spirit will be produced in three separate 5000ltr stills, each still built to capture different characteristics. The three still concept is designed to give our distillers and blenders a broad range of flavour profiles in the new make spirit to then create desired style of each expression. To clarify, by having the option of a larger spirit still we hope to have the ability to cut the hearts cleanly into early, mid and late hearts thereby having the ability to be able to make distinct expressions from the new make. Our goal is to create a single malt that captures the essence of our region. In the process, I hope to create a way of life to hand over to my two daughters in the future. Not to mention the dream of sitting on my balcony over looking the distillery drinking my own 20 year old malt. Where do you see yourself and your whiskies in 10-20 years time?

We hope to have a substantial visitor centre trade to promote our region and add to that some international sales (and recognition) would be the dream come true. As I am now discovering, many new distilleries have started up in Australia in recent years - do you see this as an advantage or a disadvantage for you?

We hope that we can inspire and help many more distilleries to open in this area. Joadja Distillery is the only other whisky distillery in the area, we hope to work closely with the owners Elisa & Valero Jimenez to build the region’s whisky profile. The goal is to be able to have the Southern Highlands of New South Wales defined as it’s own whisky region within Australia.How will your whisky stand out from the crowd?

By being exceptional in every aspect of what we do. From our cellar door hospitality, to our product branding & presentation, and most importantly by making an exceptionally well-crafted spirit we hope to let what we do speak for itself.

The Coburns Distillery site - you can see the shedding in amongst trees on the other side of the railway line. The plan is to build a 60m long new build to house the distillery. The brown areas on the left and right of the trees are a 17,000 year old peat bog, the largest in Australia.

Frank McHardy, Chief Whiskey Advisor, Whipper Snapper Distillery, Perth (formerly Director of Production at Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries, Distillery Manager at Bushmills and I forget which Speyside distilleries - Tamnavulin maybe? Anyway, suffice to say Frank has been in the industry for over 50 years and is an absolute legend!)

How did you get involved with Whipper Snapper?

​Alasdair Malloch and James McKeown contacted me a number of years ago with a plan to set up a distillery in Perth Western Australia . It seemed to be an exciting project and through our discussions a friendship was developed. Following that, Alasdair and James came to Scotland, spent some time here and we developed the plan from there.

What similarities and differences have you found between starting up a distillery in Australia compared to in Scotland?

One of the main challenges to setting up a distillery in Perth are the ranges in temperatures throughout the year . Coolish in winter but extremely hot in summer. One result of the temperature range can be the large loss during maturation which over the past two years has been measured at around 5 % alcohol per annum. Maturation is proving to be relatively quick though.Distillers yeast has to be imported.Good comparisons are the excellent quality of grain used in the processes, the water is pure and legislation regarding the production of spirit is fairly flexible and open to innovation.

What style of whisky are you aiming for and how is that achieved?

The Whiskey produced to date has been Bourbon style and trials are being done at present on a single malt .

The majority of single malt distilleries in Australia use similar processes, that is conventional mash tuns and traditional pot stills . What we do is slightly different in that we use two mash kettles, one of 1,000 litres and the other 4,000 litres. We have 10,000 litres of fermentation capacity in 7 washbacks of varying sizes and distillation takes place in a 16 plate rectifying column still by Arnold Holstein. At present we are using mainly new virgin American white oak barrels and producing in the region of 30,000 litres of spirit per annum.

Finally Frank, you’ve worked at distilleries in Scotland, Northern Ireland and now Australia. Anywhere else you’re going to add that list?

Currently I am also involved with Dartmoor Distillery in England and a proposed distillery in Israel . Who knows where else…could be Antartica, but don’t tell Richard Patterson - lots of ice there!!!

A few months ago I got a facebook message from a guy called Niko Devlin, who is the President of the Australian Whisky Appreciation Society, which went something like, “Hey, I like your distillery maps of Scotland. You ever thought of doing one of Australia?”. Now, I’ll be honest, I hadn’t even thought there were enough distilleries in Australia to fill out a whisky map! I knew there were a few in Tasmania, but turns out that was a bit of understatement. There are currently 11 whisky distilleries in Tasmania and 24 in mainland Australia. Who knew? Not me. So, with a LOT of help from Niko and a fair bit of jiggery pokery with distillery locations (there being a total dearth of distilleries in that top middley bit of the very big country that is Australia) I did up a distillery map of Australia.

Somewhat embarrassed by my complete lack of knowledge about the Australian whisky scene I decided to try to find out a bit more and write a blog piece about it. So, I did a bit of reading. I picked Niko’s brains some more. Thanks to the wonders of facebook, I also spoke to a guy called Mark Coburn who is in the process of setting up a new distillery in the Southern Highlands of NSW. I then remembered that Frank McHardy, of Springbank fame, was involved with the Whipper Snapper distillery so I asked him some questions too. I then promptly forgot all about it until I was watching the BBC’s Scotch! programme the other day which reminded me that I really should write this blog piece (episode 3 had a bit about Australia in it)!

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When you think about it, it’s not really surprising that Australia has a thriving whisky scene. In fact, I think Dave Broom summed it up pretty well in his ‘World Atlas of Whisky’, “The most surprising thing about the Australian whisky boom is that it’s taken so long to happen. This, after all, is a country that was widely settled by Scots, is rich in malting barley and culturally is known to like a drink”. ​

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So why did it take so long to happen? That’s what I’d like to know and what, so far, I still haven’t found an answer to! In trying to write this blog post, I’ve found myself getting endlessly distracted - I keep saying to myself, “I’ll just quickly check the newspaper archives” or “I’ll just do a quick google search and see what else I can find out about x” and a couple of hours later I’m still reading and haven’t actually written anything! Most annoying. (This is why my essay hand-ins at Uni always culminated in a caffine and chocolate fuelled all-nighter followed by a mad dash to get it printed off and into the professor’s cubby hole before the deadline.) Anyway I am getting distracted again, so in a bid to give myself (and you) a bit of structure, I have decided to split this post into 2 parts; Part 1 (today’s post): History and Part 2 (tomorrow’s): Interviews with some modern day whisky producers and bottlers.

You could say that the history of spirits and distilling in Australia dates back to the arrival, if not of the First Fleet in 1788, then certainly of the first free settlers in the 1790s. Rum and brandy appear to have been the spirits of choice; Sugar plantations were established in Queensland in the mid 1800s and rum production followed shortly afterwards. Maybe the taste for rum was brought over by the British Navy with the First Fleet? It would appear to be a lasting taste too; in the 1995 book ‘Classic Spirits of the World’, rum is quoted as being, “Australia’s second drink to beer, with the leading brand, Bundaberg, outselling Johnnie Walker by two to one”. (Incidentally in the same book, Australian whisky didn’t even get a mention!). Brandy making grew from a need for a grape based spirit to produce fortified wines (much more popular at the time than table wines). The knowledge of wine making as well as presumably brandy distillation had been brought over by early European immigrants. The number of brandy distilleries grew throughout the 19th century and in 1901 the first laws were drawn up to regulate the burgeoning industry.

Despite the large numbers of Scottish and Irish immigrants though, and the wide availability of grains and beer, whisky distilling (of the legal type at least) didn’t really seem to gain a major foothold. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that whisky distilleries didn’t exist. They did. In fact, the first legal whisky distillery in Australia was established way back in 1822, in Tasmania. That’s 2 years before the Glenlivet, the “distillery that started it all” in Scotland. However, unlike in Scotland, legal distilling in Tasmania was to be a very short lived affair. In 1839 the Distillation Prohibition Act banned colonial distillation altogether and it was to be another 153 years before anyone was granted a distilling licence on the island.

Contrary to what I previously believed though, this does not mean that no whisky distilling took place in Australia as a whole in those intervening years, although the latter half of the 19th century did seem to be pretty quiet on that front. I struggled to find much mention of whisky distilling at all until 1929, when the Corio distillery was opened in Geelong, Victoria, by Mr William H Ross, Chairman and Managing Director of the Edinburgh-based (yes, Edinburgh, Scotland) Distillers Company Limited. DCL held a 51% share in Corio, I think largely as a way to get round the high import tarifs at the time, and according to their 1930 annual report, there was then only one other whisky producer in Australia, which they had just bought a controlling interest in, thereby “securing an interest in the whole production of Australian spirits.” Yep, you can tell they were the precursor to Diageo, can’t you?

By 1954, Corio was apparently the largest distillery in the Southern Hemisphere, having produced, in its first 25 years of existence, some 12 million gallons (about 48 million LPA) of whisky and 5 million litres of gin. This accounted for two thirds of the total Australian whisky trade and half the gin market!

Quantity does not always equate to quality though, and it would appear that, certainly latterly, Corio’s reputation was questionable at best. One description I saw compared it to motor oil, another described it as “rot-gut” and apparently instructions from HQ (that would be DCL) were to produce something “no better than the worst scotch whisky”. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. The distillery continued in production right up to the 1980s though, when it was closed following massive financial losses. It’s reputation not withstanding, the Corio distillery, through its comparative longevity if nothing else, clearly had an important role in the history of the Australian whisky industry. The article I read described the Corio brand as “leaving behind a twofold legacy; firstly, it was proof positive that whisky could be made in Australia, and on a large scale, and; secondly, that if it was ever to be done again the focus would have to be on quality rather than quantity. Thankfully that’s exactly what those in the present day industry have realised.”

So there you have it. I’m still none the wiser as to why the Australian whisky boom took so long to happen but I am slightly better informed as to the history behind it. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at the rebirth of the Australian whisky industry in the 1990s and what’s happening now.

My poor blog has been somewhat abandoned over the summer months (what little summer we had anyway) so this week’s news of the release of Wolfburn Aurora gave me the impetus I needed to get back to the keyboard and write my long overdue Wolfburn distillery focus.

Production Manager Shane Fraser with the new Wolfburn Aurora

Wolfburn started production in 2013, making it the first of the new distilleries I have written about to actually have legal whisky in their warehouses (Legal whisky which they very kindly sent me a sample of, but more of that later!). In fact, they now have 2 different products available as part of their ‘Signature Range’; Northland, released in February this year, which is matured in American Oak quarter casks and the newly released Aurora, matured in a combination of American Oak and first fill Spanish Sherry.

I’m really looking forward to hearing what these guys have been up to as I used to work with Shane (Shane Fraser, Production Manager) when we were both at Glenfarclas. I know, I know, another Glenfarclas connection but you know that saying about there being only 6 degrees of separation between anyone on the planet? Well, I think when you’re talking about the Scotch Whisky industry you can probably reduce that to about 2 degrees! Let’s see what Shane has to say for himself anyway;

Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location? In the faaaaaaar north of bonnie Scotland – on the Caithness’s north coast in the town of Thurso to be precise. The project was originally to rebuild the old Wolfburn distillery – the original was built in 1821 and fell into ruin in the late 19th Century – but in fact we ended up building an entirely new distillery just a few hundred metres from the site of the old one.

Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now? ​I’ve been producing whisky for 26 years! But for Wolfburn, it was the opportunity of a lifetime – to create a new single malt scotch from a blank canvass, a whisky that I could truly say I crafted from scratch.

Wolfburn has now stolen (or reclaimed?) the title of "most northerly mainland distillery" from Pulteney

Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery? The journey started in 2011 – that’s when we put together the outline business plan. Finessing the numbers took a long time because every little input has a knock-on effect. For example, the size of the mash has a direct bearing on the size of the washbacks and the size of the stills – not to mention the amount of malt used per week, which then has an effect on the size of the malt bins, and the weekly running cost. By the end of 2011 we had workable numbers, so we set about buying the land and getting planning consent – both of which happened in June 2012. The civil engineering started shortly afterwards, and we simultaneously finalised our contract with Forsyths – they started installing the plant equipment in November 2012. The build was completed in the new year and we went on spirit on 25 January 2013 – Burns Night! Since then it has been non stop – we mash and distill six times per week, and lay down roughly 1,000 casks per year. Bottling commenced in February 2016 and we have already sold a huge amount more whisky than originally forecast. It’s been quite a ride!

Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that? Wolfburn’s whisky is light and smooth – a nicely rounded whisky, which we hope is easy and pleasant to drink. Personally I prefer softer spirits and I’ve crafted Wolfburn so it’s a sweet and fragrant dram. It already has quite a following, which is lovely to see.

​Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward? ​There are so many challenges, it’s difficult to know when to start! Maybe the biggest is to ensure that quality is maintained as high as possible at all times, even when we are doing something for the first time. Sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day!

Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique? ​Wolfburn is a very traditional distillery – we don’t have any automation, everything is done the old fashioned way, by hand. We use a 1.1 tonne copper-topped mash and four stainless steel washbacks. Our stills are a unique shape and were crafted by Forsyths of Rothes specific to our design. The wash still capacity is 5,500L and the spirit still is 3,800. Our fermentation is long and slow – around 75 hours on average. This produces some wonderful sweet and floral flavours in the worts, which carry through to distillation. The distillation is equally long and gentle – lots of time inside the copper ensures the spirit is completely free of harsh sulphurous compounds, and as a result is lovely and sweet.

Maturation is all on site in our purpose-built warehouses. We hand-select all our casks, which mostly come from Spain or America. And we also bottle on site – Wolfburn is one of only a tiny handful of distilleries where everything happens in one place.

Q. Who do you see as your target market? Anyone who enjoys fine quality single malt scotch, globally. We have distribution in 21 countries globally. Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime? We launched in Feb 2016, and have been selling ever since. We’ll never produce anything other than whisky – it’s our expertise and it’s what defines us as a brand and as a business. ​Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time? To be honest I am enjoying everything so much on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis that I don’t give much thought to long term plans at the moment! If Wolfburn continues to grow, and we continue to produce such lovely whisky, I shall be very happy.

Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why? We tried as much as possible to make it similar in process and scale to the original Wolfburn distillery. A lot of the details have been lost in the mists of time – it would be great to find a bottle from the original distillery, but I doubt any still exist – but we are as faithful as possible to the old traditions employed in the Highlands.

​Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when? We’re open Monday-Friday by appointment only – please email info@wolfburn.com And yes you can buy our whisky at the distillery.

Sounds like Shane is having a ball up there! Let’s see what the end product tastes like then shall we? The lovely chaps from Wolfburn sent me a 3yo cask sample, matured in a quarter cask (like their Northland single malt). It’s sitting at 60.02% vol, so quite a bit higher than their bottling strength of 46%. I’ve drafted in Mark (my husband) to help with the tasting, which is a terrible chore for him I’m sure. Also, I don’t really go in for very detailed tasting notes - I’m very much a broad brush strokes kinda girl - but Mark’s much better at all the bullsh*t (oops, I mean tasting notes) so he’s written more detailed ones too.​My impressions first; it’s a really well-balanced, drinkable dram. It’s got a lovely mouthfeel that really coats the palate and leaves a wonderful soft smokiness. It doesn’t seem overly young, and certainly tastes older than it’s tender 3 years. I wondered whether the slight peatiness on the palate adds a certain maturity? Overall, I’m really impressed and very much looking forward to trying more expressions from this great Northern distillery.

Not often you taste from a glass that's the same vintage as the whisky!

And now for Mark’s more poetic/bullshitty/detailed* (*please delete as appropriate) tasting notes;On the nose he gets malty and vanilla notes, with touches of brown bread, peat and fresh cut sileage. There’s an oiliness there as well which makes him think of a petrol lawn mower. He also gets a fresh minerally/flintiness on the nose as well.​On the palate he’s getting spice, pepper and poppy seeds with stale custard creams - think biscuity and creamy, not fresh cream but rather clotted cream or that cheap yellow ice cream you get in the supermarket - and then some soft smoke at the back of the palate. There’s an initial burst of intense flavour which then fades away briefly before a surge of pebbles, smoke, pumice stones and gingerbread on the finish.

All in all an excellent dram, although you might not get that impression from some of his tasting notes! He is a bit odd and insists that stale custard creams, sileage, pebbles and pumice stones are all meant in a good way!

Incidentally Mark visited Wolfburn in 2013, shortly after they started production, as part of his stag do celebrations. He even managed to take 2 photos while he was there (pretty impressive for a stag do I feel) which I have included in this article.

This wee series I've been doing on new distilleries has made me realise that my map design could really do with being updated! So while Mark has been away 'working' at the Spirit of Speyside Festival, I have done just that.

I've only included distilleries that are currently in production so no closed distilleries (however iconic they may be) and no distilleries still under construction (sorry Dornoch, you'll need to wait til the next update!).

Updated prints are now available to buy online and new t-shirts will (hopefully) be premiered at the Campbeltown Malts Festival and then available on the website shortly afterwards.

If anyone spots any missing distilleries or spelling mistakes, if you could let me know before I order the new batch of t-shirts that would be great!

For my next distillery focus, I’m going to Speyside, my home for many years, and the Ballindalloch Distillery. These guys were practically my neighbours when I worked at Glenfarclas so I was really keen to find out a bit more about what they were up to. I moved away from Speyside just after they opened, so although I often drove past the distillery while it was being built, I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit. (Something I hope to remedy very soon!)

While the Ballindalloch Distillery is a new venture, distilling on the Ballindalloch Estate certainly isn’t; In fact, the Ballindalloch Estate used to feature fairly prominently in my descriptions of the early history of Glenfarclas. You see, the Glenfarclas Distillery was founded by tenant farmer Robert Hay in 1836 on Rechlerich Farm (part of the Ballindalloch Estate). When Robert Hay died in 1865, local farmer John Grant took over the tenancy and purchased the distillery at the same time (for the bargain price of £511.19d). Since his interests lay in farming, rather than distilling, he initially put in a manager, John Smith, to run the distillery for him, while he concentrated on farming. A few years later, in 1869, John Smith left Glenfarclas to establish the Cragganmore Distillery, in conjunction with the 4th Baronet of Ballindalloch, Sir George Macpherson-Grant.

At that point, John Grant’s son, George, took over the running of the Glenfarclas distillery and farm and it has remained in the family ever since. They only ceased being tenants of the Ballindalloch Estate in 1930 though when George Grant (John’s grandson) bought the freehold. As far as I am aware, Cragganmore is still on Estate grounds, and there may well be other distilleries which were, or are, on the Estate but I’m not entirely sure of the full geographical reach. It’s certainly a fairly big area, covering some 7000 hectares today (around 27 square miles) and presumably much more than that in the past.

Anyway, enough about the history, let’s find out what’s going on in the present! Brian Robinson, the Distillery Host, very kindly answered my questions; ​

Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location?The distillery has been built in a disused farm steading located next to the Estate Golf Course. The conversion of the old building had been discussed by the family for many years and when the decision was made to build the distillery, it happened to be available, perfectly positioned for access and more importantly near a suitable water source.

Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now?The Ballindalloch Estate has been in the Macpherson-Grant family for nearly 500 years. In more recent times, it has evolved and changed to remain viable and diversification remains key. The decision to build a distillery is the latest endeavor by the family to ensure a strong future. We had all the pieces of the puzzle already in place in terms of growing barley, water supply and a use for draff and effluent, so it seemed like a natural progression to bring those elements together. As far as timing is concerned, it was simply the family looking ahead and deciding that the time was right for them.​Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery?From the time the family decided to go ahead with building the distillery to the first spirit run on the 22nd September 2014, was around 4 years of planning, scheduling, building and renovation. We deliberately used a small group of local craftsmen and trades throughout the fit out, so the renovation took longer than it might have done. That said, the family got exactly what they wanted in terms of the standard of the work carried out and the distillery looks great as a result. We were fortunate that Forsyths could fit us into their schedule as they are superb at what they do. We certainly benefited from their knowledge together with Charlie Smith who was brought in, initially as a consultant, and latterly became our Master Distiller before stepping back the end of 2015. Colin Poppy now heads up production as Distillery Manager with Phillip Murray and Mike Duncan working with him. I joined in 2014, just as the fit out started, and look after the non production side of things.

Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that?We have a complex, very fruity, light character with a hint of background spice in our new make. The combination of every element of the whisky making process contributes to the overall character, so by managing each aspect closely we get the style we want. Being a fully manual operation, we have to keep a close eye on everything anyway, so it is whisky making the way I think many people feel it ought to be.

Colin Poppy

Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward?Firstly, remove money from the equation – distilleries cost a lot of money to set up and run, so we will take that as obvious! Getting the right people in place is key, along with setting the direction you want your distillery go.

​In the future, the biggest challenge will be going head to head with some outstanding, established whiskies. As well as the usual, global suspects there are a number of small distilleries who I have great respect for, so we will be entering a very busy marketplace. That said, we have the quality we need, a plan in place and time to position ourselves, so I am confident we will be ready to compete.

I am very wary of the word “unique” as I don’t know the workings of every distillery out there! What I can say with absolute certainty is that we have a very rare approach to whisky making. The distillery is fully manual, so it is a hands on process from start to finish. Aside from the malting process, we do everything within the Estate. From growing our own barley to the draff being fed to our Aberdeen Angus herd, all aspects of the process are managed here. In terms of production, we mash 1 tonne a day, 5 days a week. We have very slow fermentation times and we distill very slowly too. We are the only recent distillery, to my knowledge, that installed worm tubs rather than shell and tube condensers. Traditional values are important to us and it feels right that we should do things this way on such an historic Estate. For maturation, we use nothing smaller than a barrel and have a range of cask types to ensure we have options when it comes to bottling.

Q. Who do you see as your target market?To be honest, it is too early to commit to and answer publicly. We have some thoughts and ideas that we will pursue when the time is right. Given that we are a number of years away from sales, so much can happen between now and then that could impact on plans made too early. I certainly would not like to suggest we will head to a particular market only for us to change our minds. I can promise though, once we are in a position to confirm these details, I will ensure everyone knows!

Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime?We anticipate a wait of around 8 to 10 years from when we started, so a little while to way to go yet. We do not make Gin or Vodka nor will we release bottled new make spirit. I am very pleased to say that we are lucky enough that we can wait until we feel the whisky is ready.

Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time?​Put simply, our goal is to maintain a reputation for quality and to achieve sustained growth. I strongly believe we have all the right aspects in place to achieve our aims, so it is a question of communicating that to our future consumers in a positive manner. Looking 5, 10 even 20 years down the line, I would like to think that we will have delivered on our objectives and have fantastic whisky in a number of strong markets. As for me, I hope to be around to share a glass of Ballindalloch 20 year old with you!

Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why?I’m not sure that I would make any direct comparisons to specific distilleries. We are fairly typical of a Speyside style but with a more complex spirit character. My aspirations would be allied to any distillery that has produced a wonderful whisky and built a following of people who appreciate and understand the hard work that goes into making something special!Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when?We do indeed welcome visitors, but we do not have a Visitor Centre as such. Tours are offered by appointment and I will then tailor the visit to the guests who book. I can offer tours that start at £35 per person and last around 2½ hours through to a day spent working with Colin, Phillip and Mike. Called The Art of Whisky Making, it allows up to 2 guests to get hands on for the day getting involved with everything that we do here.As far as buying any product is concerned, as I mentioned earlier, there is a bit of a wait there I am afraid. I do have a very small Private Cask program with no more than 25 casks available each year. If anyone is interested, it is best to email me directly and I will discuss the program with them.

​While Glasgow sometimes gets a bit of an unfair reputation from those that don’t know it, personally I love the place - I lived there for many years as a student so have a fairly in depth knowledge of the consumption of alcohol there, if not the making of it!

As Scotland’s largest city, and industrial and trading hub, Glasgow has a long history of blending and bottling whisky and many of the big names (Chivas, Diageo, Whyte & Mackay, Dewars, Edrington) still have some kind of presence there. According to Brian Townsend, in his book Scotch Missed, historically Glasgow “was a city of many distilleries with colourful names” but the last malt distilleries closed down in the early 1900s (apart from the short-lived Kinclaith distillery, within Strathclyde Grain Distillery, which ran from 1958 to around 1975).

In terms of modern day distilleries though, there are now only two; Strathclyde Grain Distillery (established in 1927, now owned by Chivas Brothers) and the new Glasgow Distillery, opened in 2014 and owned by Liam Hughes, Ian McDougall & Mike Hayward. The distillery is in Hillington in the South-West of the City, not perhaps the most attractive area (however, in the interests of full disclosure, I should point out that I worked in call centre there during my student days so this may, understandably, have put me off!) but looks aren’t everything!

The CEO of Glasgow Distillery Company Ltd, Liam Hughes, very kindly took the time to answer my questions (yep, same ones as last time - that was the plan remember?) before heading off on holiday. Here’s what he had to say;

Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location?Glasgow Distillery is the only Single Malt Distillery in a city in Scotland and was chosen because we wanted to build a distillery on the basis of its city location and logistical practicality after visiting the Brooklyn Distillery who had done something similar. ​

Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now?​We were always going to make Whisky – Glasgow hasn’t had a Single Malt Distillery since 1902 so it seemed a gap that needed filling.

Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery?We had most things lined up excluding the finance in late 2013 so it really was a matter of pressing all the buttons once it was finalised so it all happened very fast; from getting a green light in early 2014 we were making gin in late 2014 and filled our first cask in March 2015.

Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that?Our style is more Speyside than anything else and with our consultant being an ex Macallan Master Distiller that probably isn’t a great surprise

​Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward?The challenges have been a never ending list and this isn’t for the faint hearted !! There are as many opportunities going forward as there are challenges but as with all new Whisky Distilleries you have a big gap between making New Make and being able to put a product in a bottle.

Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique?All of our stills are from Carl in Germany; the key elements in our production process that we believe make a difference is our water from Loch Katrine and the combination of our ingredients and a long fermentation process. Most of our casks come from Kelvin Cooperage in Kentucky who were originally formed in Glasgow in 1963.

Q. Who do you see as your target market?Our target market is not narrow – we believe that by making great products people will grow to be fans of what we are doing and that we can and would love to be able to attract a wide range of peopleQ. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime? Our first Whisky will be released in 2018. In the meantime we have already released Makar Glasgow Gin and Prometheus 26 & 27 an Independent Bottling with more in the pipeline ​Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time? That is a question I really haven’t even thought about I can just about see as far as 2018 !!!

Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why? I think one of the most enjoyable things for me is we have no baggage as the original Glasgow Distillery [Dundashill Distillery, described by Barnard as one of the very first distilleries established in Glasgow - ed.] shut in 1902 and there is as far as I know no surviving Whisky from it so we are relying on historical records so we are just doing a whole range of things with great New Make and great casks and are already so excited about what is in the casks and the what will be whisky in a few short years ​Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when? ​We aren’t currently open to the public though we hope to be in 2017, we sell a limited amount of casks via our 1770 Club and our Makar & Prometheus are widely available via the Internet

My quest to become better informed about all the new Scottish distilleries has begun! My plan is simple; contact all the distilleries and ask them all the same questions so I (and therefore you) can firstly, learn more about their experiences, philosophies and future plans, but also (hopefully!) explore the differences between them. ​

First up is Ardnamurchan Distillery, owned by the independent bottler Adelphi Distillery Ltd. Now independent bottlers acquiring distilleries is nothing new; think Signatory and Edradour, G&M and Benromach and Ian MacLeod and Glengoyne/Tamdu to name a few. As far as I know though, Adelphi are the first independent bottler to build their own distillery from scratch (Although Wemyss followed suit with the Kingsbarns Distillery a few months later).

The distillery was officially opened on the 25th of July 2014 and has a capacity of 500,000 lpa. They also have a visitor centre so you can go and see for yourself how they are doing things. The bad news however is that Glenbeg is almost as isolated as Campbeltown so it might take you a while to get there! It does look stunning though - I’m definitely going to have to brave the 4.5 hour drive to go and visit at some point soon.

Anyway, Alex Bruce very kindly agreed to answer my questions, so lets see what he has to say for himself;

Q. Where is your distillery located, and why in that specific location?We are in the tiny hamlet of Glenbeg, half way along the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula. The area was selected due to its abundance of very pure water, local natural resources (woodchip for the boiler), and local requirement for distilling by-products (draff, pot ale). Some of the surrounding area is also under the same ownership as the distillery.

Q. Why did you decide to start producing whisky? And why now?First, and foremost, because we wanted to return Adelphi to its distilling roots, but also because demand for Adelphi’s independent bottlings has outstripped its supply for some years now. This, coupled with a growing international distribution network, provided demand, route to market and a strong intention to make a quality whisky.There has also been a bonus to the independent bottling arm through the reciprocating of Ardnamurchan new make for mature single casks of other makes.

Q. Can you talk us through the process of setting up your distillery?About 4 years from conception to final planning: in addition to finding the right site, this also included consulting on all aspects of renewable heat and power provision for distilling, looking at other new and existing projects worldwide, detailed market research, and finding the right architect and construction team.In addition, there was an early requirement to reserve a manufacturing slot for the equipment.

Q. Do you have a specific style of whisky in mind and how are you going to achieve that?We are not trying to re-write any regional styles, just aiming to do the best we absolutely can: we are producing an unpeated and a medium peated spirit (6 months of each at the moment), filling into both ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks (the majority are 1st fill).The spirit is very fruity, quite creamy and viscous, with a peppery kick and decent levels of peat in the background in the peated version.We hope to end up somewhere between Highland Park and Talisker in style (possibly with a hint of Springbank!)

Q. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in setting up a new distillery? What do you envisage as the biggest challenges going forward?Plenty of teething issues to keep us busy, but none insurmountable:1. Staffing, in particular for the VC in such a remote area2. Trying to find the infrastructure to allow us to grow our own barley (100%) and have it dried and toll malted, both peated and unpeated3. Working with a biomass boiler4. Cash flow – keeping production running for several years without dipping into too much working capital or selling too many crown jewels.

Q. Can you tell me a bit about your production equipment and processes (barley variety/yeast strain/distillation/cask management etc)? ie What makes your distillery unique?We use 100% Concerto varietal barley, most of it grown on our farm in Fife and toll malted by Bairds in Inverness. We have a Ruddock mill, feeding a 2 ton mash (the largest we could fit up the road); 4 oak washbacks (ex Cognac) and 3 SS washbacks; a 10,000 litre wash still and a 6000 litre spirit still. We use a single distillers’ yeast for the peated, and 2 distillers’ yeast (50/50) for the unpeated, fermentation times are 72 hours with a long weekend (when we are on a 5 day week) and 72 hours for each (when we are running 7 days).All pot ale and draff is used locally, all spirit matured on site.

Q. Who do you see as your target market?We will continue to expand our existing markets with particular emphasis on North America, Europe and the Far East.

Q. When do you plan to release your first whisky? Will you be producing any other products in the meantime?The first “mainstream” single malt will be released when we have enough mature stock that we feel is ready to vat and bottle.We hope to release earlier maturing spirits and single malt in small batches to show the emerging style and quality.No other products are planned.

Q. What’s your long term goal? Where do you see yourself and your distillery in 20 years time?We would like to establish the Ardnamurchan brand worldwide with recognition for a quality single malt that is attainable in most specialist outlets.A 40,000 to 60,000 case brand should be achievable within 20 years, and we would hope that the core of our existing team and ownership will still be involved to witness this achievement.

Q. If you were to compare your distillery to any other existing or closed one, which would you most aspire to be like and why?From a flavour profile, as above: HP, Talisker, Springbank and backbone of Clynelish/Brora.From a sales and marketing angle, I have huge respect for Billy Walkers brands, Arran, and Ian Macleods, so a mix of all of the above would be perfect.

Q. Are you open to visitors? Can we buy your product, either in bottles or cask? If not now, then when?We are open 6 days per week from Easter to October, and 5 days (or on demand) during the winter months.New spirit is available direct from the distillery.Small batch releases of maturing spirit should begin later this year (2016)

Now I definitely want to go and visit! I can’t wait to try the final product either - especially since the style they are aiming for is a hybrid of 2 (or 3) of my favourite distilleries!

I seem to have been writing about J & A Mitchell quite a lot recently, but since last weekend marked the 12th Anniversary of the opening (re-opening?) of Mitchell’s Glengyle distillery, I figured that warranted another post. At least it is about Kilkerran this time rather than Springbank!

Also, I have first hand experience of the birth of Kilkerran so to speak since I pretty much watched the Glengyle distillery being built. You see, I’d started working at Springbank just after all the pigeons had been turfed out of their rather large home and the buildings had been restored and made wind and water (and pigeon) tight. (I remember rightly the stills, and possibly the condensers, were in a lean to out the back, waiting for all the other production equipment to be put in before they could be installed)

At the time, it was quite a novelty - it was one of the forerunners in the wave (now practically a tsunami) of new Scottish Distilleries, and the first distillery to open in Campbeltown in well over 100 years. The original Glengyle distillery had been founded in 1872 by William Mitchell, who ran it until 1919, when it was sold. It closed its doors a few years later in 1925. Although all the distilling equipment was removed, and the stock sold off, the distillery buildings themselves remained pretty much intact over the intervening years, being used first as a rifle range, then as an agricultural depot.

The story goes that Mr Hedley G Wright, current chairman of J & A Mitchell Co Ltd, during one of his visits to Springbank, had noticed that the buildings were for sale and commented, “Hmm, my great-great uncle used to own Glengyle. I think I should buy it.” I may be paraphrasing slightly but you get the idea! Buy it he did (in November 2000), and the ambitious plan to create a brand new distillery within the walls of the old one began.

The first time I saw the soon to be new Glengyle distillery, in 2002, it was an empty shell. A very large empty shell! Over the next couple of years though, I, along with all the other staff at Springbank, gradually watched the new distillery come to life under the direction of Mr Wright and Frank McHardy, who was Springbank Distillery Manager at the time. ​

The stills and mill were sourced second hand - the stills from Ben Wyvis distillery and the mill from Craigellachie - although the shape of the stills was altered somewhat to give the distillery character they wanted. The rest of the equipment was new though - the very large stainless steel mash tun was brought down by road (I’d have hated to be stuck behind that lorry on the way down to the town!) and fitted by Forsyths of Speyside. I vividly remember watching the washbacks be built on site - now that was impressive! If you’ve ever been to a cooperage and watched them building casks, it was like that but on a much, much larger scale. The noise of 5 or 6 guys hammering the huge hoops into place around the newly installed washbacks was something else! I also remember the first time the new washbacks were filled - and the water just poured out the bottom! They do that apparently, until the giant staves absorb enough water to expand into place and make them watertight. That’ll be why they were filled with water first then, won’t it? (That’s also why wooden washbacks are kept full of water when not in use, so that they don’t dry out and start leaking).

The first spirit flowed from the still in March 2004 with very little fuss or fanfare, although we did have a great party to celebrate Kilkerran’s official coming of age 3 years later. The party was held in an empty warehouse at the distillery and all the guests got given a goodie bag with a miniature of new make and a miniature of the new 3yo whisky - I’ve still got mine somewhere! It’s strange to think that the first 12 year old Kilkerran Single Malt will be released later this year cause none of this seems that long ago! (I know, it’s a sign of age, before anyone else points it out). It’s really nice being back in Campbeltown and able to participate in the 12th Birthday celebrations as well; I got my 12th birthday tour, dram and bit of birthday cake last weekend and I’m very much looking forward to trying the 12 year old when it comes out.

Plan of Springbank and Longrow distilleries in 1898 (bodged together from British Library online gallery).

In the course of some research for the Liquid History tour that I’m doing during the Campbeltown Malts Festival in May I came across some fascinating Fire Insurance maps of Campbeltown from 1898. There are 10 maps covering pretty much the whole town (or at least all the parts which could’ve been considered a fire risk) and they are incredibly detailed. Not only do they show the location of all the distilleries (22 at that time) but they also show where the stills, kilns, warehouses etc were situated. Whisky geek heaven!*

What I found really interesting though was looking at the plan of Springbank. I mean, I used to work there, and I now live pretty much next door, so I know it’s a very traditional distillery but seeing the old maps really brought home just how little has changed since 1898. Okay, one of the maltings and kiln has disappeared to make way for the malt storage bins, two of the worm tubs have been changed for condensers and there have been a couple of new warehouses built and a couple repurposed but that’s about it as far as changes go. One set of malt floors, the mill, mash house, tun room and stills are all still in the same place. Even the office is still in the same place!

The 1898 map overlaid with my annotations of present day Springbank

It’s all the more remarkable then to think that at one point in time, Springbank was considered to be at the forefront of innovation and modernisation! In an article that Hedley G Wright, the current Chairman of Springbank, wrote for The Wine and Spirit Trade Record in 1963, he stated, “Springbank Distillery today has changed in several features from olden times. The company has been one of the pioneers of mechanisation within the distilling industry and the movement of barley and malt is now performed entirely by belts screws and elevators…The actual maltings have been rationalised so that there is only one set of floors and one kiln where formerly there had been two independent maltings…The green malt is dried on a pressure kiln of modern design and this item of equipment has been found to give a superior quality of malt and also effect considerable economy of time and fuel"

The current maltings are in the background. The building in the foreground is the malt store today but used to be the second maltings.

It’s reassuring to note though that even in the 1960s, when Springbank was a ‘pioneer of mechanisation’, the quality of the spirit always came first. In the same article, Mr Wright describes several modern methods/practices that were rejected because of the adverse effect on the spirit; ​

Firstly for malting, “Modern techniques of box or drum maltings were rejected in favour of the traditional system as they did not effect an adequate economy to compensate for the poorer quality of malt produced by these methods”

Then fermentation, “The actual washbacks are made of Scottish ‘boat-skin’ larch wood, for it is the belief of the proprietors that a steel wash back, although less expensive to install and maintain, gives a distinct taint to the final whisky, in an analogous manner to the distinctive tone given to a violin by the use of steel strings.”Then distillation, “The wash is pumped into a large copper still which is heated by a coal fire underneath and also, simultaneously, by an internal steam coil through which superheated steam is passed. This method of heating a wash still is the traditional Campbeltown technique and has been used at Springbank for as long as records indicate; it is thought that no distilleries outside Campbeltown use this method.”

Mr Wright’s opinions have clearly not changed since the 60s as Springbank still uses traditional floor maltings, boat skin larch wash backs and a wash still heated simultaneously by direct fire (although oil rather than coal now) and internal steam coils.

​I wonder how many other distilleries in Scotland have changed so little since the 1960s, or indeed the 1890s?

*If anyone wants to check out the maps for themselves you can find them on the British Library online gallery. Big thanks to Joe Trotter from the Lost Distillery Company for giving me the link in the first place!

Springbank office in background and joiner's store on right (used to be a duty free warehouse)